Technology Briefing | Software: New Categories Added For Violent Games

Published: June 27, 2003

The United States industry group that assigns ratings to video games added new categories yesterday to distinguish the violence in cartoon-style games from the graphic depictions in titles like Doom and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, an industry-financed group that has been applying ratings to games since 1994, is placing new titles in four categories -- cartoon violence, fantasy violence, intense violence and sexual violence -- to give buyers a better idea of the games' content. Washington State passed a law last month aimed at keeping children from buying games that depict violence against police, more than two years after St. Louis banned the sale of violent titles to minors. The ban was struck down by a United States appeals court, which said the measure was prohibited by the Constitution. Violent video games are often among the industry's top sellers and draw publicity as improving computer graphics make it possible to produce more lifelike images.